To quickly recap the results, it’s safe to say that all drivers receive significant numbers of Google searches every month and in some cases certain drivers are searched for every five seconds!

To carry on the ‘Google search’ theme, I also decided to investigate the relative popularity of formula 1 teams. However, this was a slightly more complicated process as the best method of search term to use is open to debate.

If you use the official full title of each team, e.g. Red Bull Racing Renault, then this is likely to produce lower than expected figures as obviously the majority of people searching for details on Red Bull would be unlikely to type out the full name of the team.

If you go to the other extreme and just use the more commonly used shortened title of each team, e.g. Red Bull, then again this is likely to produce inaccurate figures as many of these searches may relate to the Red Bull drink rather than the Red Bull formula 1 team. On a similar theme, a large percentage of searches made for Ferrari and Mercedes will actually be for Ferrari and Mercedes road cars, rather than the formula 1 teams.

So as a sort of a middle ground I decided to compile the constructors’ Google table based on searches made using the commonly used shortened names of each team but with ‘F1’ also added to the search, e.g. ‘Red Bull F1’, ‘Ferrari F1’. This is far from being scientific and will exclude a significant number of searches, but there isn’t really a totally satisfactory solution and seeing as how this is just a bit of curious fun in any case, I thought it was the best compromise.

Anyway, here are the results…

Per Month

Per Year

Ferrari F1

301,000

3,612,000

McLaren F1

201,000

2,412,000

Lotus F1

90,500

1,086,000

Williams F1

74,000

888,000

Mercedes F1

60,500

726,000

Red Bull F1

60,500

726,000

Sauber F1

33,100

397,200

Caterhm F1

33,100

397,200

HRT F1

22,200

266,400

Marussia F1

14,800

177,600

Force India F1

8,100

97,200

Toro Rosso F1

2,900

34,800

Perhaps not surprisingly, Ferrari emerge on top with McLaren in second place, but it was also interesting to see Williams placed so respectably, and you would have to assume that the history and tradition of Williams, and presumably formula 1 in general, apparently still counts for something with a lot of formula 1 fans.

When you consider the apparent relative figures between the front runners and the back of the grid, it makes you realise just how hard it must be for a tail-ender team to survive in modern formula 1. As I've already brushed over though, formula 1 fans will be searching for f1 teams via various search terms, so these figures are only the tip of the iceberg.

To illustrate how the figures rise significantly when the 'F1' tag is omitted, here’s the table based on the commonly used shortened names of each formula 1 team…

Per Month

Per Year

Mercedes

30,400,000

364,800,000

Williams

24,900,000

298,800,000

Ferrari

11,100,000

133,200,000

Lotus

7,480,000

89,760,000

Red Bull

5,000,000

60,000,000

McLaren

1,830,000

21,960,000

HRT

1,220,000

14,640,000

Caterham

301,000

3,612,000

Sauber

246,000

2,952,000

Force India

201,000

2,412,000

Marussia

110,000

1,320,000

Toro Rosso

33,100

397,200

As I previously clarified, the figures in the above chart don’t really mean much due to various anomalies, so I’m publishing them purely for the benefit of curiosity. For example, on first glance you might think to yourself, ‘Hey, HRT are a popular
formula 1 team,’ until you realise that perhaps maybe not all of those
Google searches were formula 1 related!

And just as a further matter of curiosity, here’s the table based on the official full title of each team…

Per Month

Per Year

Mercedes

30,400,000

364,800,000

Ferrari

11,100,000

133,200,000

McLaren Mercedes

135,000

1,620,000

Lotus Renault

33,100

397,200

Williams Renault

18,100

217,200

Sauber Ferrari

2,400

28,800

Red Bull Racing Renault

1,600

19,200

Caterham Renault

1,300

15,600

STR Ferrari

880

10,560

HRT Cosworth

720

8,640

Marussia Cosworth

480

5,760

Force India Mercedes

390

4,680

Just to reiterate, there isn't really a satisfactory way of compiling a 'Google search' chart for formula 1 teams but of the three tables the first table is probably the most representative.